Care Packages This past Sunday Cissy Singleton and Nuala Kurokawa provided the wonderful Red, White, and Blue cake and other wonderful refreshments at our Adult Forum to express their thanks to St. Gregory's for supporting their Troop Support Ministry. As I mentioned at all three of our services Sunday, it has been our privilege and joy to support them in their important ministry both to the troops and to their families.

Five days earlier, Cissy addressed our most recent Care Package assemblers with these words:

"Greetings and welcome to the 25th Care Package Event at St. Gregory's Church. Four years ago almost to the day we had our 1st Troop Care Package Event. Nuala and I never anticipated that what we began then would still be going full speed ahead today. We continue to be in awe of the overwhelming support of this ministry. I have asked myself over the last few weeks how we can measure the success of our efforts over the last four years and I have realized there are many ways.

We can measure success in the thousands of packages that we have sent.

We can measure success in the thank you letters that we have received, the flags of honor, and the appreciation certificates― most recently from Gigi Banjak.

We can measure success in the outreach and participation of community members outside St. Gregory's including Brownie and Scout Troops, other churches and schools. In January Ben Berger a grade schooler from Highland Park and his mother attended because they wanted to help and donate to our cause.

We can measure success in responding to AnySoldier.com requests like that of Mike Becerra an Illinois National Guardsmen who submitted his name because his unit did not have enough to eat and he was told if he registered on AnySoldier.com he would get care packages and have extra food for his unit.

We can measure success in the hugs of thanks received from David Kurokawa, Nathan Stopps, Chris Kelly, and Mike Becerra.

We can measure our success in the friendships and bonds that have grown over the years as we have worked together. I treasure all of them― especially my friendship with Nuala. This ministry brought the two of us together and has brought all of us together. For this I will be forever grateful.

We can measure success in the fact every member of St. Gregory's has participated in this ministry by volunteering, donating, writing letters, or praying each week for the deployed troops on our prayer list.

Tonight we can also measure success in the fact that we celebrate our 25th Troop Care Package Assembly night. It is a milestone moment and Nuala and I thank you.

There may not be media here tonight but God is watching. He knows our work. He knows that we share his love in the work that we do. May God bless each of you and may he bless everyone who will receive a box we pack tonight."

ConscientiousCandidatesWhat's a Rector to do when confronted with not one, or two, but four outstanding possibilities for Archacolyte? Devise an elegant solution! So Dimitri Sinnaduray and Ellie Christenson will succeed this year's Junior High School Archacolytes, Nick Raimondi and Scott Schaper, during May; and a year from now Emma Martin and Jocelyn York will become our Archacolytes. Ellie and Dimitri will be inducted along with all our other acolytes on the Sunday after All Saints Day, as is our custom. Our gratitude to Scott and Nick for their excellent work this past year.

ContagionGeneral symptoms of the swine flu include sudden onset of fever (100.4+ F), headache, cough, achy joints, nasal congestion, and general fatigue. If you or your children develop flu-like symptoms, home isolation is important in curtailing the spread of this flu. Redouble the practice of good hygiene, most importantly by frequently washing your hands. For more information, please visit the Centers for Disease Control's website: www.cdc.gov/swineflu

Faithfully yours,

"We are ambassadors for Christ, God appealing to the world through us." 2 Corinthians 5:20

April 24, 2009

A friend of mine was complaining to his tennis coach that his elbow hurt. This friend is a serious tennis player and had been working hard. And now his elbow hurt. His coach looked at him and said, "Well, of course it hurts. The only question is, 'Does it hurt in the right place?'"

That was the question Thomas asked. And it's still the right question.

The disciples were gathered together after some crazy reports from a few of them that they had somehow experienced Jesus alive after all. He's alive, they said, but not like before. He's harder to recognize now at first glance, but it really is Jesus. They said. We've recognized him.

Thomas hadn't been in on any of this at first and he insists that he's not going to buy any of this business about Jesus being alive unless he has proof. And what kind of proof does he want? Proof of the most intimate and earthy kind. "Unless I can poke around in the wounds they made, I will not believe a word of it."

I like Thomas. He's the only one honest enough to say what they all must have been feeling. Thomas is a saint for many of us, I think. I talk to people all the time who seem afraid to admit their doubts, certainly to a bishop like me and I imagine to God. It's almost as though they're afraid doubt is some kind of weakness or something they shouldn't have. But doubt isn't a sin. The opposite of faith is not doubt, you know. The opposite of faith is certainty. Dead certain, as we say. Thomas doubted. He was cynical even, but he remained in community. He was there with them in that room and so he didn't miss the opportunity to meet Jesus. He was there with his doubts and all. But he was there.

Thomas wanted proof. He wanted the proof we always want and rarely admit. We know that there is no such thing as easy community, instant trust, painless love. We know it, and yet we'll do almost anything it seems to avoid it. We're really pretty good at pretending we don't need community, don't need love, real love, the kind that only comes with wounds. We live in a culture that doesn't much recognize that kind of love. We live in a society that doesn't believe it ought to cost anything – that if you're just strong enough, smart enough, young enough, beautiful enough, well-off enough – you've got everything you need. And if you don't believe you have the right stuff, then you can live vicariously through the glamour of celebrities, or sink into depression, or join yourself to a church or a club or a guru who'll promise to fix your every ill – find something to escape real life.

But Thomas points to another way. Thomas didn't run away from what looked like a dismal failure to do his own thing. He stayed with the friends of Jesus. He insisted on seeing the wounds. The wounds are the only thing that make this resurrection gospel believable to me. Notice, Jesus' wounds do not go away after resurrection. They are still there. In fact, they were the only thing Thomas could identify about Jesus. It's always the wounds. Knowing our wounds, our hurts, our fears, our vulnerabilities, our doubts – knowing the wounds, probing around in them – finding out where they are and how deep they go – that's the only sure way the bible knows to an encounter with the living Jesus.

It's why a lot of people get turned off by the church I suppose. At least by a church that refuses to sidestep or avoid the ambiguities of life. Some people seem to want only a triumphant church – all muscle and righteousness, but no room for doubt, no room for the real hurts, the pain, the uncertainties of this life. Some people want a pale holy club – Rotary International with hymns – where the only measure of success is how nice everyone is to everyone else. No, there's nothing wrong with being nice … except we aren't always. We hurt each other, we get hurt. We're afraid.

And so people either won't have anything to do with the church – how could this bunch of hurting, seeking, fearful people possibly compete with the glamour of the NBA or a trip to the resort? Or what may be worse, they show up occasionally (two or three times a year) put on a happy face, but never join Thomas, never risk an encounter with the wounded and risen Jesus. Archbishop Tutu says that most of us use Christianity like an inoculation: we get a little dose of it from time to time to avoid coming down with a full blown case of the real thing.

Thomas caught a full blown case. He found the wounds of Jesus and they became his own. There are some wonderful stories about what happened to Thomas after all this, after this encounter with the Risen Lord. Legend has it that Thomas took the gospel to India where he was martyred eventually – with a spear like his Lord. This gospel of Thomas is always read on the Second Sunday of Easter for a reason. We're being reminded, especially those of us who entered the font last weekend, those of us who stood with the newly baptized to reaffirm our own vows – we're being reminded that the wounds don't go away. Our wounds, our hurts, our doubts, our difficulties are not magically taken away by baptism or our faith. We've still got them, just like Jesus. But they might just be different. Instead of just bleeding, there is the possibility now in Christ that they might be the key to a totally different kind of living.

"Put your hand here on this wound," Jesus says to Thomas. "It's really me." Where are your wounds? Baptism doesn't take them away any more than resurrection did. Baptism doesn't fish us out of anything. Belonging to the church, becoming a member of the crucified and risen Christ is no exemption from suffering and pain and death. Baptism, the Christian life, is not an escape from our wounds; it is bringing them to the wounded and risen Jesus. And that makes all the difference.

April 23, 2009

"The rector, spotted hands spread before him, solemnly recited the traditional call to the altar, as specified in the 1928 version of the Book of Common Prayer, for Father Freed and his dwindling flock would hear no word of any other. 'Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling.'

"With a great shuffling silence, the congregation slid off the benches and onto the red leather kneelers. The Carlyle family, as it had done for years, also assumed the position, as absent Preston, the household wit, used to call it.

April 22, 2009

Two quotes about Justice, the first from a seasoned and hardened politician:

"Use power any way you want. Get rich. Help the poor. Whatever. The important thing is to use it and keep using it. If you leave it lying around, somebody else will pick it up. Power has to be used, or it's not real. . . . If you use it, people decide you're a powerful person, they get accustomed to doing what you want, and that gives you more power. Just don't ever start trying to use it for justice. People are real, justice is abstract. Abstract is when the killing starts."

The second is from a letter dated April 4, 1973, written by a man seeking Justice:

"President Nixon continues to duck and weave but I think he will shortly go down. . . . Justice, I beg you to remember, comes in many forms. All our lives you and I have marched for a vision of justice that is distributive rather than retributive. . . . The enemy is a bad system, not bad people. . . . Our task is not to seek further punishment but to improve the world to the best of our abilities. . . ."

April 21, 2009

Bishop Jeffrey Lee's Visitation was like Easter all over again in the magnificence of our Choir, reprising their Easter Anthem at the 11 am service, the flowers which made the sanctuary glorious, the joyful responses of the congregation, and even the Bishop's talk with the children at the Nine O'Clock Service about his mitre and crozier! And we had the additional delight of the Bishop's wife, Lisa Rogers Lee, who joined both The Gregorys and our Choir as a bravura guest vocalist.

Rector's Quarterly Report, April 19, 2009

During this first quarter we have been blessed with new members from St. Hilary's in Prospect Heights, Sedgebrook in Lincolnshire, and from as close as Deerfield and as far as Mundelein! Thank you for enlivening our parish and joining so quickly in such diverse activities as Buildings and Grounds, Troop Support Ministry, the Labyrinth Restoration Project, and our Confirmation Classes, Lenten Program, Holy Week Observances, and Adult Forums.

This has also been a productive quarter for our parallel explorations into St. Gregory's future mission and ministry by our Master Plan and Sabbatical Committees.

Sabbatical Committee

Thanks to the Lilly Endowment, the Sabbatical Committee has been working with diocesan consultant and St. Mary's, Park Ridge, senior warden Susan Czolgosz to develop the parish's Sabbatical Plan while Ingrid and I are overseas.

Susan led our Vestry Retreat in January, and then gave an overview to the parish at our February 1 Adult Forum.

The Committee then sent copies of the Congregation Assessment Tool [CAT] to our 185 households, comprising 302 members 16 years and older. 120 surveys were returned for a response rate of 40%, well above the 30% participation mark required for reliable results. Congratulations and thanks!

Survey said . . . !

This Sunday, April 26, Susan will return to the Adult Forum to provide an overview and analysis of the survey results. Please plan on attending to learn about our collective experience of St. Gregory's and to get a peek at the ideas offered for our parish's summer sabbatical time.

As a preview, here's what the President of Holy Cow! Consulting, who originated and administers the CAT, wrote in his cover email to Committee Member Karen Dahl: "You have a remarkable church. It makes my day to see a profile like this."

Upcoming Sabbatical Learning Opportunities

Susan Czolgosz will lead two learning sessions, each session offered twice for our convenience, with a light supper, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, May 4 or 6: Learning the Way: How Church is Changing in Society

Susan will explore the church in the 21st century: What is the role of church in our contemporary society? How can church be relevant?

Monday, May 11 or 13: Pathway to Renewal: Practical steps and bold ideas

Susan will outline strategies for congregational growth and development, leading to the renewal of St. Gregory's mission and vision.

Master Plan Committee

The Committee has met five times with Bob Nickola and Doug Lasch, the principal architects at Jaeger, Nickola & Associates, Ltd., since our first meeting on December 2, 2008. Following that meeting, the Committee organized a survey to determine what our parishioners saw as the most pressing needs for upgrading our facility and improving our capacity to fulfill our mission and ministries. In the meantime, our Architects arranged for a survey of our existing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

With the results of both surveys, the Architects brought to each subsequent Committee meeting a series of options for the Committee's consideration and decision.

Granted the diversity of the Committee's membership, encompassing traditional and contemporary views of church and worship, and long-time parishioners as well as newcomers, the Committee and Architects have each been impressed with how quickly we have reached a common mind about the shape of our Master Plan.

At an evening potluck on Sunday, May 17, and again at the Adult Forum on Sunday morning, May 24, Committee member Jim Stone will guide the parish through the same process by which we came to the current Master Plan.

Following Jim's presentation, the Committee will answer parishioners' questions and note any comments and suggestions. These will be brought back to the Committee and the Architects for consideration and adaptation into the Master Plan.

After the Sabbatical, the Architects will make a formal presentation of the Master Plan. After another period of reflection, I will call a Special Parish Meeting to discuss and then vote on the Master Plan.

I urge every parishioner to participate fully in the opportunities which the Sabbatical and Master Plan Committees are bringing to us as we consider St. Gregory's future.

After many years of having the Dismissal follow the closing hymn, the Dismissal now precedes the closing hymn. Either is correct. Both intend to say: "our worship of God is over, our service for God is beginning." The first way sends us out into the world immediately; the second invites us to march into the world with stirring song and ready hearts.

Faithfully yours,

"We are ambassadors for Christ, God appealing to the world through us." 2 Corinthians 5:20

April 16, 2009

"Certainly in the heated presidential campaign shaping around her nobody gave any serious consideration to what should be done about race and poverty-- not when there were important issues to confront. There were always important issues to confront. Race and poverty could come later. Maybe that was why Jesus had said the poor we would have with us always: He knew where they would rank, even two millennia later, in the list of political priorities. What Mona had said so long ago, quoting some writer, resonated more and more strongly with Julia as the weeks flew past: white people were far more interested in the equality of their wives and daughters that the equality of their servants."

April 15, 2009

There are so many people to thank for another powerful and moving Holy Week, and for our glorious Easter celebrations.

The Altar Guild for scenery changes: from Palm Sunday red to Maundy Thursday white to Good Friday black; and from the Palms of Palm Sunday, to the Stripping of the Altar and the Garden of Repose on Maundy Thursday, to the Flowers of Easter.

Jim Collins and our choir for their magnificent music throughout the week, and for Easter's brass quintet, featuring our own Jim Swager.

Easter Egg Hunt: Barbara Schaper, who organized it, Derek Hill and Philip Lovacheff who stuffed the eggs, Aurora Raimondi and Scott Schaper who hid the eggs, and Luke Peterson who, with Derek and Scott helped the children hunt for the eggs, and Mike Hill who helped stuff eggs and supervise the older children's egg hunt― there were 11 children ages 2 through 1st grade, and 6 children 2nd -5th grade, with 150 eggs for each group!

Thanks also to David, Matt, and Scott Schaper, who have worked long and hard on removing the pews from the new choir area, and the hazardous bolts which secured the pews to the floor. Thanks also to David and John Craig who are working on bringing electricity to the southwest corner of the nave.

Standing in the Gospel: The High School Sunday School Class Food Drive Lenten Service ProjectOur High School students topped last year and collected 210 pounds of non-perishable food and miscellaneous items.

The West Deerfield Township Food Pantry was delighted to receive this generous donation from St. Gregory's, and Julie Morrison is grateful for their support.

Preschool News

Our latest check from Target totaled $111.34. Thanks to all those who participate in the Take Charge of Education program. To date we have received $341.85!Art works by our preschool children were displayed at the Deerfield Public Library from April 2 to 14.

News from Susan Dun in Doha, Qatar

I have been keeping up with the newsletters etc. and miss all of you every time I see them. We have just finished our opening ceremony for Northwestern University in Qatar which was a crazy huge event. The students are amazing to work with and Doha is pretty neat too. I wasn't complaining about the 50 degree winter when I was reading about the snow you had but we'll get ours in the summer! We will be home in June and July—the kids will stay through most of August but I have to be back as our school starts mid August. Please tell folks I said hi and am looking forward to seeing them this summer.

The Bishop's Visitation

Our new Bishop, Jeffrey Lee, will be making his first Episcopal Visitation this Sunday, along with his wife, Lisa Rogers Lee. Lisa, who is an accomplished singer, will be joining The Gregorys at the Nine O' Clock Service, and the Choir at the 11 am service as they reprise their beautiful Easter Anthem.

The Bishop will preach and celebrate at all three of our services, and he will also be at the Adult Forum for our "By-Title-Only" Quarterly Meeting.

April 12, 2009

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This morning Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is making its Easter debut, so please turn to it.

"Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand. . . ." Paul begins by describing the good news as something proclaimed― spoken― and something received― heard. But then Paul describes the good news as something somehow physical, as something in which we can somehow stand. So please stand. I don't know how each of you might envision this, but I want you to see yourself standing in the good news― or, if you're sitting, then see yourself sitting in the good news. But whether you are standing or sitting in the good news, is the good news up to your shoes? your knees? your waist? your shoulders? . . . are any of you in over your head?!

As you know, it is the custom of the Church to stand for the reading of the Gospel, which is the Old English word for good news. The next time you stand for the Gospel, remember you are standing in the Gospel as well as for the Gospel. Please be seated again.

"Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, [. . . and] through which also you are being saved."

The good news is not just something spoken, or something heard, or something in which we stand― the good news is also the power of God through which we are being saved. In fact, in another letter, Paul tells us that this power of God through which we are being saved is the very same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20). And the very fact that you are here this morning is proof that God's resurrection power is at work in you to save you.

But what is this good news in which we stand, this good news through which we are being saved by God's resurrection power? Paul tells us:

"For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. . . ." Paul is thinking, among others, of the prophet Isaiah who said about God's Suffering Servant:

". . . he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole; and by his wounds we have been healed" (53:5).

The good news in which we stand, and the good news through which we are being saved, is the good news that our sins are forgiven and that we are a forgiven people.

". . . and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. . . ." Here Paul is remembering, among others, the prophet Hosea who said: "on the third day he will raise us up" (6:2).

The good news in which we stand, and the good news through which we are being saved is also the good news that we have eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The good news continues: "and that he appeared to Cephas"― who's Cephas? {{Congregational Response}} [Cephas (or KAY-fahss) is the Aramaic word for "rock" which becomes "Peter" in English, so Cephas is Simon Peter, who denied Jesus three times.]

". . . then to the twelve"― that is, the twelve disciples who deserted Jesus when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

"Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died."

"Then he appeared to James. . . ." James was one of Jesus' blood brothers and sisters. Talk about sibling rivalry! And we know from the Gospels of Mark and John that James and Jesus' other brothers thought that Jesus was out of his mind, and yet Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles that James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem! So

how did the unbelieving James ever become the leader of the Jerusalem church? Paul tells us: because Jesus appeared to his brother James.

". . . then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

Now the fact that Jesus died for our sins and that we are forgiven is obviously good news. And the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and that we have eternal life is obviously good news. But why is it good news that he appeared to all these people?

Well, let's do a quick recap of the people to whom Jesus appeared: Peter, who denied him three times; the twelve disciples, who deserted him; a brother who rejected him; and a man who persecuted Christians!

Paul knew why this list of people to whom Jesus appeared was good news: "by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain."

The good news is that if God's grace could transform Paul, and James, and the disciples, and Peter, then there's no one here this morning who is beyond God's grace, and indeed there is no one in the whole world who is beyond God's grace.

Whenever we feed the hungry at Christ Church, Waukegan, we are standing in the good news, and God's grace toward us is not in vain. And whenever we join Lake County United to bring health care to the elderly poor, we are standing in the good news, and God's grace toward us is not in vain. And whenever we make care packages for the troops, we are standing in the good news, and God's grace towards us is not in vain. And whenever we weep with those who weep, and forgive from the heart, and visit the sick, we are standing in the good news, and God's grace toward us is not in vain. In short, whenever we work for justice, whenever we work for peace, and whenever we work to make the world a more caring place, we are standing in the good news, and God's grace toward us is not in vain.

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bill: Happy Easter, Anastasia!

Anastasia: Happy Easter, Bill; Happy Easter, boys and girls.

Bill: So, Anastasia, how are things at Ryerson Woods?

Anastasia: Oh, they're just ducky, thank you!

Bill: Just ducky?!

Anastasia: Well, actually, yes! I've just hired a new assistant, and he's a duck named Dismas Duck.

Bill: Well, what happened to the assistant you had just hired a year ago, Jack Rabbit?

Anastasia: Well, he got a new job and moved to Warren, Illinois (which is a pretty appropriate place for a rabbit to live, don't you think?!).

Bill: So this new assistant, Dismas Duck, is working out well?

Anastasia: Oh, my yes, and he has a great sense of humor. For example, just the other day we walked into Walgreen's and he bought some Chapstick, and when the clerk asked him, "Cash or credit card?" he said, "Just put it on my bill."

Bill: Oh, Anastasia!

Anastasia: And just this morning he asked me if I knew the difference between a duck with two wings and a duck with one wing! And when he told me I just laughed and laughed!

Bill: So what is the difference between a duck with two wings and a duck with one wing?

Anastasia: Well, that's a matter of a pinion!

Bill: Oh, Anastasia! So apart from his sense of humor, is he well qualified?

Anastasia: Oh, my yes. In fact he's overqualified. He's not only an expert in ecology, he's a physicist. In fact, most of the time, he talks more like a physicist than like a duck.

Bill: Oh, Anastasia! Well, I think maybe it's time for you to go so I can talk to the boys and girls.

Anastasia: Well, is there time for me to tell you a story that Dismas told me?

Bill: Well, I suppose so. . . .

Anastasia: Okay, great! So there's a man speeding down the road in his pick-up truck with a bunch of ducks in the back of his truck. A police officer pulls him over and while he's writing the speeding ticket he asks the man where he thinks he's going with all those ducks. The driver says that he just doesn't know what to do with them anymore. The officer says, "Look, there's a zoo not far from here and that's where you should be taking them." The man thanks the officer and drives off with his ducks.

Well, guess what? The next day the officer sees the same pick-up truck with all those ducks speeding down the road. But this time all the ducks in the back are wearing sunglasses. The officer pulls him over and says, "I thought I told you to take them to the zoo!" "I did that," says the driver, "but now they want to go to the beach!"

Bill: Okay, Anastasia! Time to go! Happy Easter, Anastasia.

Anastasia: Happy Easter, Bill. Happy Easter, boys and girls!

Well, boys and girls, I'm glad Anastasia has a new assistant, and I think it's so interesting that he's a duck. In the United States Easter Eggs come from chickens, but in many parts of the world Easter Eggs come from ducks. And in some parts of Ireland, children collect duck eggs during Holy Week and then on Easter give them away as presents.

Well this morning I want to tell you a story that comes from a country called Poland, and takes place in a city called Warsaw.

Once upon a time there was a young cobbler's apprentice and his name was Lutek. He was good boy, and he worked hard, and he and his family were very poor. Everyone liked Lutek, except the master cobbler, who didn't give him much money for all his hard work.

One day a strange visitor came to the cobbler's shop. He sat down by the fire and told Lutek the strange tale of a golden duck who guarded the treasure in an old abandoned castle. The mysterious stranger said that the person who entered the castle's dungeon on Easter Day would meet the golden duck, and that the golden duck would tell that person where the treasure was.

Well, Lutek knew the castle very well. He always walked past it on his way to the cobbler's shop. He couldn't believe there was really a treasure in the castle's dungeon, but he couldn't wait till Easter to find out.

When Easter came, Lutek and his family went to church. They sang all the wonderful Easter hymns, and the priest preached a wonderful sermon. He said, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Well, after going to church, Lutek and his family went home and had a very simple Easter dinner, because they were so very poor. But Lutek was smiling inside, because he was going to go to the castle to find the treasure.

So later that afternoon, Lutek entered the castle, and it was cold and damp and dark, and the only thing he could hear was his own breathing. He lit a candle and looked around, but the light of the candle didn't go very far, and he didn't see anything like treasure. "I've been fooled by that stranger," he thought. "What am I doing here, looking for a golden duck and a big treasure?"

But just as he was about to turn back, he heard a quiet splash and the shaking of feathers. He walked toward the splashing sound and there he saw it. There was the golden duck! And it wasn't just a golden color; the duck's feathers were made of real glittering gold! The duck was splashing around happily in the water, quaking every so often.

Suddenly, the duck stopped and looked at Lutek with her twinkling eyes. The duck opened her beak and started to speak in the most beautiful human voice he had ever heard:

"I know you're here for the treasure," she said, "but before I give you the treasure, you need to pass a simple test. In one day you must spend all the money that you will find in this bag," and as she pointed with her wing a bag appeared at Lutek's feet. "But," said the golden duck, "not only do you have to spend all the money in one day, you can only spend it on yourself. You can't share it with anyone or spend it on anyone." And with that, the golden duck disappeared.

Lutek was amazed. He couldn't believe it! Spending money on himself would be easy. So he went home and lay wide awake all night, thinking about all the ways he would spend the money.

When Lutek woke up the next day there was the bag of money! He knew he couldn't tell his family about it, so he left the house before anyone else woke up. He realized how hungry he was. So what do you suppose he did? ―CHILDREN'S RESPONSES―

As he was eating, he looked out the window and saw a little group of poor and hungry children looking back at him while he ate all that food. But Lutek remembered that he could only spend the money on himself.

After breakfast, he looked in his bag, and even though he had eaten and eaten until he was stuffed, he still had lots of money. Then he looked down at his clothes. They were so old, and they were falling apart. So what do you suppose he did? ―CHILDREN'S RESPONSES―

Well, he bought all of those things, but when he looked in his bag, he still had lots and lots of money. As he left the shop, he saw some of his friends walking toward him. Their clothes looked just as bad as his clothes used to be, but remembering what the golden duck had said, he hid from his friends until they had passed him.

Well, what do you think Lutek did next? ― CHILDREN'S RESPONSE― (avoids parents)

Well, what do you think Lutek did next? ― CHILDREN'S RESPONSE― (avoids brothers and sisters)

It was getting dark, and he still had lots of money to spend. But what had seemed like fun in the morning, wasn't so much fun anymore. He would have liked to go to spend the money to have fun with his friends, but he couldn't share his money. And he would have liked to help out his poor family, but he could give them any money, either.

By now it was getting very late, and he still had lots of money, and he wasn't having fun anymore. Then suddenly, as he turned a corner, he saw an old woman, dressed in rags, and she looked very tired and very sad and very hungry and very cold.

"Young man," she said, "you seem to have everything in life. I haven't eaten for two days and I'm not sure how long I can live."

Lutek felt very sorry for her, and he decided what he would do. He gave her the bag, and said, "Here. Now you can start a new life."

The beggar woman was overjoyed, and she thanked Lutek again and again. Lutek looked down and saw that his new clothes were gone, and his old clothes were back. But he also realized that he was just as happy as the old woman.

And do you know what happened next? Right before his eyes, the old beggar woman turned into . . . the golden duck! And the golden duck said to Lutek. Now you have discovered the real treasure: "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, "'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

So, boys and girls, when the service is over, you can go back to my office, and Mrs. Roberts will give you a golden duck, like this one. And always remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

April 02, 2009

I have just finished reading David McCullough's masterful John Adams, and here is another lovely quotation, from page 625, written to Thomas Jefferson in 1818, after Adam's wife Abigail's death:

"I believe in God and in his wisdom and benevolence, and I cannot conceive that such a Being could make such a species as the human merely to live and die on this earth. If I did not believe in a future state, I should believe in no God. This universe, this all, this to pan [he wrote in Greek, which McCullough translates as "totality"] would appear with all its swelling pomp, a boyish firework."

And on page 630, another quotation, written in 1820, offers pithy advice:

"Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend."

And again, also in 1820:

"I never delighted much in contemplating commas and colons, or in spelling or measuring syllables, but now . . . if I attempt to look at these little objects, I find my imagination, in spite of all my exertions, roaming in the Milky Way, among the nebulae, those mighty orbs, and stupendous orbits of suns, planets, satellites, and comets, which compose the incomprehensible universe; and if I do not sink into nothing in my own estimation, I feel an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees, in adoration of the power that moves, the wisdom that directs, and the benevolence that sanctifies this wonderful whole."

And finally, on page 650, in an undated quote from a letter he wrote to his granddaughter Caroline Amelia Smith:

"The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know. . . . Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough."